


Obi-Wan Kenobi: Jedi Apprentice

by mneiai



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Child Soldiers, Don't Like Don't Read, Fix-It, Gen, Headcanon, If you're an abuse apologist you probably like JA so probably shouldn't read this, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Minor Character Death, Not Beta Read, Slavery, well Legends rewrite since Canon isn't giving us shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26308171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: My attempts at re-imagining the Jedi Apprentice background for Obi-Wan to make it less blatantly abusive.Summaries right now, but I will probably write up some scenes and stuff later.
Relationships: Plo Koon & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 28
Kudos: 134





	1. Introduction

Jedi Apprentice, for those who don't know, is a cesspool of child abuse and neglect where the entirety of the Jedi Order, and very specifically Qui-Gon Jinn, comes off looking like horrible people. 

It is also the only thorough backstory of Obi-Wan's early life as a Padawan that exists, most of the rest of the stories from that time period either using it as a backstory or simply plopping Obi-Wan-As-Qui-Gon's-Padawan into a situation without much detail on their relationship or what Obi-Wan's life is life before/after/outside of the situation.

The only good thing it does is gives us a lot of _really interesting_ information to work with, from a fanfic writing POV. I'm fond of the Melida/Daan incident, where Obi-Wan joins a group of child insurgents to stop a two centuries old conflict on their planet as the basis for his early experience/interest in warfare. But in JA, Qui-Gon abandons a 13 year old Obi-Wan on a planet in the middle of a civil war and no one thinks to go back for him, so you can see how that whole event is pretty problematic.

So this is my attempt to recreate the scenarios that are most interesting/beloved from JA while also making it less about "Qui-Gon Jinn is an outright child abuser and the adult Jedi blatantly ignore and even facilitate abuse from Masters and other children" and more about "these awful situations are often beyond Qui-Gon or the other adult Jedi's control" or "these situations worsened unexpectedly and too suddenly in such a way that Obi-Wan couldn't be extracted from it right away."

I'll go plot by plot (generally 1 or 2 books worth) per chapter.

These will appear as summaries, though I'll probably flesh them out later, and some of this I plan (at the moment) to use in some future fics as backstory.


	2. Becoming Qui-Gon's Padawan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A version of JA Books 1 & 2 that is way less abusive, but still pretty traumatic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this I am moving the event known as the Stark Hyperspace War up to earlier in 44 BBY.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was found by Jedi Master (and Council Member) Tyvokka on a mission as a baby and brought back to the Temple on Coruscant. Strong in the Unifying Force and with a continuing relationship with Tyvokka (akin to how Ahsoka and Plo were), Obi-Wan was raised knowing he would be Tyvokka’s Padawan and became so when he was eleven years old.

He had two years of a very healthy Padawanship with Tyvokka until, on what should have been a diplomatic mission, they were instead betrayed and Tyvokka died (basically what happens during the Stark Hyperspace War). Overcome with grief from the loss of the Master he’d known nearly all his life and thought would guide him throughout it, he forgoes the offer of a replacement Master and instead decides to join the Exploration Corps. He’d always been interested in ships and flying and the distractions of traveling the galaxy to map the unknown parts felt like a good way of dealing with his grief.

However, the commercial passenger ship he was sent on (not some derelict, dangerous, Hutt-filled ship like in JA) to the ExplorCorps location he'd be trained at was attacked by pirates and Obi-Wan (without his Padawan braid or lightsaber, and therefore no obvious sign he’s Force sensitive) ends up being sold as a slave–-to Offworld’s nearby operation on Bandomeer.

This means he gets to Bandomeer, but not because the Jedi thought it was a good idea to send a 12 year old to an extremely dangerous planet with very little supervision.

Meanwhile, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn is on a mission to Bandomeer. He is tracking the shady business of his former Padawan, Xanatos, because the Order actually tries to keep track of people who leave the Order in questionable ways instead of ignoring that it happened. They’ve just become aware that Xanatos has some connection to the secret head of Offworld Mining Corporation, an extremely shady business that's suspected of killing countless people for profit and uses slave labor through Republic loopholes.

Xanatos was emotionally abusive towards Qui-Gon, especially in the later years of their partnership, enjoying playing games and manipulating him, but his final betrayal was still a horrible blow. Qui-Gon has worked largely alone since then and avoided ever taking another Padawan, unable to trust anyone after everything Xanatos put him through (he's also spent as much time as he could away from the Temple, to avoid being assigned a permanent mindhealer and forced into regular sessions). He somewhat knows Obi-Wan, as he’s friends with Obi-Wan’s Padawan brother, Plo Koon, and as another participant in the Stark Hyperspace War (where they worked together after Tyvokka’s death to help save everyone and Qui-Gon awkwardly tried to support Obi-Wan while Plo was doing other things).

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan meet up, of course, in the mines of Bandomeer. The deep sea mining platform that Obi-Wan is on is part of the Offworld operations that Qui-Gon is investigating and Qui-Gon gets there in time to help Obi-Wan with the slave revolt he's fomented over the weeks he's been there. They help each other not just survive, but free the slaves there and ruin Offworld’s hold on the planet (and Xanatos’ plots to kill Qui-Gon in the most horrible way he could think of, because, yes, he was the one that leaked the info he might be on Bandomeer and has been luring Qui-Gon into a trap). Obi-Wan at one point still offers to kill himself to save Qui-Gon while they try to escape the mine explosion Xanatos setup, which goes very similarly to how it did in the book, except Qui-Gon actually talks to Obi-Wan about it in a mature and concerned manner.

They have a heart-to-heart over their losses afterwards, while recovering from the ordeal at a nearby medical station where the Jedi Medical Corps has operations, and Obi-Wan decides that the Force had brought them together for a reason–they had already accomplished so much and Master Tyvokka would surely want Obi-Wan to continue doing so. He asks if Qui-Gon would be willing to take him as his Padawan. Qui-Gon, believing in following the Living Force despite his misgivings and seeing already how different Obi-Wan is from Xanatos and how well they worked together, agrees.

They return to Coruscant and then have a trip to Ilum, where Obi-Wan creates a new lightsaber to represent his re-commitment to becoming a Jedi Knight (and meets Dex on the fact finding mission to Ord Sigatt immediately after it, per that piece of Legends).

For the most part, it looks as though they’re going to have a normal time of Obi-Wan’s Padawanship now that the wild beginning is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not going with "Jedi Council Members cannot have Padawans" because the dates and ages for some of the Masters and their Padawans get really wonky from that, but also technically this could be seen as "Senior Council Members _can_ have Padawans, because they know how to juggle their duties better" if one really wanted to.
> 
> Plo Koon was Tyvokka's Padawan and friends with Qui-Gon, I'm not making either of those things up.
> 
> In Disney canon, Obi-Wan was 3 when he was brought to the Temple, which was considered old for a Youngling. I greatly dislike this because it makes Anakin's introduction at 9 seem even more farfetched, if someone being 5 is barely accepted, no one should have been surprised Anakin wouldn't be, not even Qui-Gon. So I'm going with the Legends background from JA that he was a baby too young to really remember anything prior to the creche and leaving what age is too old open ended.


	3. Initiates and Padawans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Background on how Initiates and Padawans are treated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was initially going to do this part later, but I'm stuck on some ideas for the next story part so I figured I'd do this in the meantime.
> 
> This one works in and tries to fix some of what went wrong with Obi-Wan, Bruck, Komari, and others in JA and other media. As is the subject of many, many conversations, the idea of "aging out" or even just forcing an Initiate into the Corps is very odd, but also there are a lot of former Jedi/future darkside enemies of the Order during this era who just...aren't on the Order's radar, which is also weird to consider, because the Jedi aren't ignorant to the threat that rogue Force users can be, especially ones with formal training.

**Initiates:**

Initiates are Jedi Younglings who are not yet chosen as a Padawan or gone to a Service Corps, most of whom come to the Order by the age of three (or species equivalent). They live within clans in the creche, where they have a communal family environment watched over by at least one permanent crechemaster.

Clans are selected based on the physical needs of an Initiate's species as well as their Force aptitude. For example, it wouldn't do to have ten Younglings with extremely strong empathic abilities all together in a clan, they could easily get caught up in a feedback loop of each other's emotions.

In their early years, the Younglings are Junior Initiates. They learn basic skills such as reading, early mathematics, and basic levitation, as well as early instruction in the basics of shii-cho, Form I of lightsaber combat. They are immersed in Jedi Philosophy, as at such a young age they often have a more instinctive grasp of what the Masters of old have tried to teach.

Then around age 9 (or species equivalent), the Initiates begin preparing for their Initiate Trials. These allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of and ability in the Force, understanding of the Jedi Code, and their skill with a lightsaber. Once an Initiate has passed their trials, they become a Senior Initiate and are eligible to be chosen as a Padawan.

Senior Initiates take more intensive courses to prepare for becoming a Padawan. Their academics become more diverse as their lightsaber and Force instruction becomes more frequent. This is sometimes considered the most stressful time of a Jedi's life, as along with the learning they must do, many feel the need to network directly with Knights and Masters in an attempt to be chosen by them.

Because a large part of the Jedi philosophy revolves around always being both students and teachers, the High Council may temporarily assign Senior Initiates to potential Masters when there is a clear fit between them and the Force is in favor. However, much of the time the Force guides the Jedi to their prospective Padawan without any interference necessary.

**Padawans:**

When a Senior Initiate is chosen by a Master and becomes a Junior Padawan, they move out of the creche and into their Master's rooms. If a Junior Padawan is too young to go on a specific mission with the Master, and no other Jedi can be found to take the mission, they will stay in the Padawan Dorms.

The Padawan Dorms are similar to the creche as they have some oversight and communal rooms, but allow the Padawans more freedom and personal space while still having others nearby to assist them if necessary. It is also not unheard of for Senior Padawans to choose to spend time in the Padawan Dorms when they have group assignments to work on together or when they are approaching their Trials and wish to be around others going through the event as well.

Padawans are separated from Initiates for their classes and lightsaber instruction. Not only do Padawans often need special considerations based on being gone from the Temple for weeks or even months at a time, but the Order does not wish to foster any resentment between the groups. Padawans and Initiates are still welcome to socialize with each other and Padawans are always allowed to visit their old creche.

While on missions, Padawans are often given remote learning projects and courses and are often expected to do specific projects based around their mission (perhaps the agriculture of the planet, or specifics of the culture, or notes on diplomatic practices used by their Master). Padawans go through yearly tests while at the Temple to adjust their course levels and can test out of certain subjects while Senior Padawans. By the time a Padawan becomes a Knight, generally around their mid-20s (or species equivalent), they have studied in their chosen subjects to a level often equivalent to at least one university degree.

**Knighthood:**

When a Master and the Council agree that a Senior Padawan is ready for their Trials of Knighthood, the Master will often be given more solo missions so that the Padawan can study at the Temple to prepare. This normally takes around a year of preparation for a well-trained Padawan.

A Padawan that the Master and Council do not think is ready for the Trials will continue on as a Padawan until they are either ready or remove themselves from contention by joining the Service Corps or leaving the Order. It is also possible that the High Council decides that a Padawan is not fit to become a Jedi Knight and are given the same options.

Failing a Trial will also lead to them as continuing as a Padawan, with at least a year before they can re-take a Trial. However, the Trial can be dangerous and can result in permanent injury or even death, so it is rare for a Padawan to take them when not ready.

If a Padawan does not or cannot become a Knight, there is often some level of resentment against the Order. If they stay with the Order, either in the Corps or some other way, they are assigned mindhealers. If they leave the Order, there is an attempt to keep in touch with them. All of them are checked in on by Shadows infrequently to make sure they are not misusing their training.

**Un-Chosen Initiates:**

If a Senior Initiate is not chosen to be a Padawan, they are encouraged to join one of the Service Corps, normally based on their own abilities and/or interests. As they continue in their education, they are placed in classes more similar to what students at outside schools might be taking, though they still continue in instruction that would assist them if they were to be a late choice by a Master.

"Aging out" happens when an Initiate reaches their physical and legal majority without having been chosen as a Padawan. Sometimes this is due to an Initiate's temperament (both noted in reports available to potential Masters and often a topic of Temple gossip among those searching for Padawans), but it may also be the bad luck being part of a large age group when there were few available Knights and Masters without Padawans already.

At this point, they are placed under the care of the Council of Reassignment and given another chance to join the Service Corps, the opportunity to become part of the Temple staff, or they are placed in a program to help them integrate into non-Jedi society with educational resources fitting of their aptitude. If they had family they could safely be returned to, they will be given that option, as well.

The Council works hard to ensure that those staying around Jedi Padawans as Temple staff have a support system in place and the opportunity to go to mindhealers when necessary.

**Padawans of Deceased Masters:**

When a Master dies before their Padawan is Knighted, the Padawan is given a mourning period. The Order encourages a Padawan already into their training to stay and does their best to help them do so. This includes sometimes giving them missions with others if they feel restless and having them meet multiple potential Masters if any are available. After their period of mourning and re-adjustment, they can decide to be placed with another Master, go to the Service Corps, or be integrated into outside society.


	4. Melida/Daan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reworking Melida/Daan to not be so "what the fuck why omfg no"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part I definitely am planning on doing a full prose story of at some point, but also planning on using it as the backstory for a lot of my other stuff. 
> 
> Melida/Daan is a fascinating part of Obi-Wan's Legends backstory because it has so much potential when dealing with his interactions with the clones and his feelings about the Clone Wars, which is why I think people who aren't even using the rest of JA will often still include Melida/Daan. But there's no real way to use JA's version of Melida/Daan in a world where the Council and Order aren't awful, so most people are super vague about what actually went down there. So this is a version of Melida/Daan that both has some general details but also doesn't make the Council and Order look so bad.
> 
> Also I wasn't really planning on putting a ton of tags on this work, so as not to clog up people's results, but since bad actors were going into this anyway, I figure I might as well not hold back.
> 
> Oh, also, if you're into the Jedi, some of us got together and made a [Jedi-focused Discord Server!](https://discord.gg/Njt5mcesx2)

**Melida/Daan:**  
An Outer Rim world that has suffered through around two centuries of civil war between the major ethnic groups of the Melida and Daan. Each generation perpetuates the idea of vengeance and payback, encouraging their children to continue the fight after their deaths, and the only real art or culture they have is monuments to dead warmongering relatives/ancestors.

**The Melida/Daan Mission:**

In JA, Jedi Master Tahl is sent to help wtih negotiations between the two sides, but is kidnapped and tortured by one of them. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent to rescue her. They bumble around and are saved/helped by Cerasi, a member of a group called the Young.

We learn that the Young are children of both sides of the war who don't agree with the fighting and want it to end. They're living in catacombs connected to the sewers and barely surviving. Cerasi, at 13, is one of the older children. She helps them get to Tahl, providing all the info they need as well as a necessary distraction and then they take Tahl back to the Young hideout.

Obi-Wan, having a lot of empathy and obviously horrified about the situation these kids are in, wants to help them. Qui-Gon insists that they must follow _only_ the mission directive and do no more. Eventually, Qui-Gon takes Tahl to their ship (and I should mention, they were age mates and he's kinda obsessed with Tahl, it's creepy) and Obi-Wan, as the Elders (older adults) are bombing the Young, insists he's staying. Qui-Gon goes back to the Temple, leaving a 13 year old Obi-Wan, without even a lightsaber, in the middle of a civil war.

Obi-Wan and the Young would go on to win the war (with the help of the Middle Generation) and setup a new government run by the leader of the Young, Nield, with a Council that included Obi-Wan and Cerasi. Except that Nield wants to destroy the signs of the old culture of Melida/Daan while others want to focus on rebuilding. Tensions run high. Cerasi is assassinated by Mawat, another member of the Young, to try to reignite war and kill off the Elders that remain.

Chaos erupts and Obi-Wan has to beg the Temple to send help. Qui-Gon comes back to Melida/Daan, has the Elders make peace, and reluctantly takes Obi-Wan back to the Temple, though not as his Padawan.

The Melida/Daan arc is Not A Good Look. And it continues to be Not A Good Look the entire rest of the JA series, wherein Obi-Wan gets blamed and shamed when he eventually returns to the Temple, even by his friends, for "abandoning" his Master, and gets reprimanded by the Council itself. Qui-Gon faces no consequences for leaving a 13 year old, his Padawan, on probably one of the worst planets to leave someone on in the known galaxy.

Much like the first novel, which people can trace directly to them disliking Yoda and the Order, the fallout from Melida/Daan is something people often cite as a reason they dislike the Council and especially Qui-Gon.

**How To Keep Melida/Daan But Not Make The Order Look Like Negligent Monsters (Again):**

Jedi Master Tahl is sent to help negotiate peace between the Melida and the Daan, who for the first time in centuries have agreed to an outside negotiator present, which is taken as a good sign from everyone. While there, a "terrorist" attack leaves her injured. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent to assess whether she needs to be evacuated and for Qui-Gon to take over negotiations if she can stay. At this point Obi-Wan is 15 and has been Qui-Gon's apprentice for a few years.

Both the Melida and Daan are blaming each other for the attack, but upon investigating, the Jedi find that the actual attackers are very contrite members of the Young--Tahl wasn't even supposed to be where she was when the bomb went off, the building was supposed to be empty, and was meant to show the Jedi that things on Melida/Daan were not as "peaceful" as they appeared.

The Young are mostly orphans, ranging from around 18 down to little kids, living in catacombs under the city and traveling through sewers, still. They're barely getting enough to eat (especially for growing children), but if they get caught by the adults they'll be sent to factories and work camps to continue the war effort (ones that, as part of the peace deal, were supposed to be shut down already). Qui-Gon agrees that this needs to be investigated more closely and allows Obi-Wan to continue speaking to the Young, who trust him more since he's a fellow child. He gets more and more attached to them and their cause as he does so.

Tahl has a setback and must be taken to Coruscant for treatment. Obi-Wan refuses to go, scared that without a Jedi presence, the Melida and Daan might restart hostilities or go after the Young. Qui-Gon reluctantly agrees to leave Obi-Wan behind, after sending out a message to nearby Knights and finding one in the vicinity who could make it there in less than a day to take charge of the mission, temporarily, and act as a guardian to Obi-Wan. The Melida and Daan have made lots of overtures that they want peace and will continue to hold their truce.

Except basically the moment Qui-Gon is out of the system, the war starts back up. The Knight never makes it to the surface, shot down in the atmosphere, and Obi-Wan is left living with and fighting beside the Young to survive.

Back on Coruscant, we get a sign of Senate interference as they stall any missions back to Melida/Daan. Qui-Gon is frantic (as anyone who cares about Obi-Wan would be), enough that he goes to his mostly estranged Master for assistance. Dooku is near leaving the Order, partially from Sith interference/influence and partially because of the Senate corruption and the way the Order just bows to their whims.

Meanwhile, on Melida/Daan, Obi-Wan realizes that help isn't coming after a few days with no signs of more Jedi and throws himself into working with the Young to try to stop the war. They know the terrain, the Melida and Daan tactics and weaponry, and Obi-Wan has studied various conflicts and battles already in his education as an Initiate and Padawan. The Young starts making real progress against the Melida and Daan, who were unprepared for how well-organized the Young are (and some of the Force tricks that Obi-Wan has learned have been helping, too).

The Council eventually goes behind the Senate's back, sending Qui-Gon on a mission to nearby D'Qar to collect samples for a Temple researcher, with a very long allotment of time to do so. Qui-Gon, of course, heads to Melida/Daan, managing to land because the Young had destroyed most of the planetary defenses after finding the wreckage from the Knight's ship. He finds the Young far more organized and regretfully more militant, and a wary Obi-Wan. With Qui-Gon back, the Young allied with the Middle Generation, and the Elders' infrastructure mostly destroyed or co-opted, they finally sue for peace talks again.

Mawat and some of the other Young still don't want peace, they want to punish the Elders for all the horror and pain they've suffered, and Cerasi is caught in the crossfire when they attack the talks. She dies in Obi-Wan's arms, becoming a martyr for the peace on Melida/Daan.

A council is setup initially to rule, with representatives across the age groups and an equal amount of Melida and Daan. The Senate finally sends another representative, a bureaucrat who will oversee the formation of the new government, and Obi-Wan leaves with some small peace of mind, despite his grief.

After the trauma and chaos of the Melida/Daan mission, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are given a break to recuperate. Their first mission after is a "cake walk" mission to witness the peaceful transition of governments to a young Duchess on Mandalore. It is, of course, not.


End file.
